AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY. 17 



light, silvery ; vertex polished ; thorax brassy-black ; humerus, in 

 a certain light, silvery : scutel, color of the thorax ; wings fuligi- 

 nous ; pleura and pectus nearly black, polished ; feet, anterior 

 pairs tinged with brownish ; posterior thighs much dilated, im- 

 maculate, spines short; tergurn bright rufous, basal segment 

 with a longitudinal black line at base; venter paler rufous. 



Obs. A native of the Southern States. I obtained two speci- 

 mens in East Florida, one of which is represented on the annexed 

 plate. It was first described by Fabricius, in his Systema Ant- 

 liatorum, from the collection of M. Bosc, but no figure has been 

 hitherto given of it. 



The lower right figure. 



CALANDKA. Plate IX. 



Generic character. Body elliptic-oval, above somewhat de- 

 pressed ; eyes immersed, oblong, encircling the head beneath : 

 antennae geniculated, inserted at the base of the rostrum ; rostrum 

 dilated at the insertion of the antennas ; elytra plain, not cover- 

 ing the anus above ; anus acutely prominent ; tarsi reflected to 

 the inner side of the tibia. 



Obs. Such of the individuals, as were known to Linne, of al- 

 most the whole of the vast tribe of insects now distinguished 

 from the other tribes by the name of Curcidionides, were included 

 by that author in his single genus GurcuMo. So extremely 

 numerous were the species, thus combined together, as to offer a 

 very serious inconvenience to Entomologists. They soon per- 

 ceived that the continual accessions of species, resulting either 

 from the more critical and accurate observations of numerous in- 

 vestigators, or from the contributions of those who were occupied 

 in the adventurous task of exploring remote and unknown re- 

 gions, had so far augmented the obstacles already existing, that 

 the hand of reformation became absolutely necessary. Accord- 

 ingly Olivier, Herbst, Fabricius, Latreille, Germar, Megerle, and 

 other distinguished systematists, undertook to separate the 

 Linnsean genus Curculio into numerous smaller assemblages, and 

 thus to bring this part of the system into a more intimate alliance 

 with the order observed by nature in the distribution of species. 



The labors of these naturalists eventuated in the construction 

 of more than one hundred additional genera, but the characters 



9 



